It's supposed to get up to 99 today. I was up at 5 so I could ride my bike to the track to meet my workout partner, walk/jog do yoga and ride home. It was miserably muggy and has been since that measly rain last Friday. Can I bitch? Living in Texas is really heavenly for about 9 months out of the year...but honestly June, July and August feel like someone hit you upside the head with a board. Unless I'm out, and stay out from before dawn I feel a prisoner in my own home staring outside at the dying greenery...I swear I can hear everything live saying " just set me on fire now and get it over with." It's especially hard when trying to be conscious of water usage...which I try to do, though sometimes I admit getting carried away with my hand watering...can't help it, seriously how can I expect these guys to thrive with burning feet?
I'm not going to include my entire list of die-hard Natives that are still blooming away because well...if you live here you know them. Lantana, Yucca, Hymenoxis, Crape Myrtle, Purslane, Turks Cap, Shrimp Plant and the like...I salute you, you're Texas true-blue...clearly deep down, I'm a Yankee, somebody get me a cocktail, I'm fading.
Here's what's up in my yard right now...death and dying...but some life, so I'll share with you the pretties I was able to capture yesterday morning before the heat sent me rushing inside. For those of you tuning in for the first time, it's Bloom Day...our gracious host Carol at May Dreams Gardens organized, created and maintains this wonderful concept where folks all over the world Blog-in on the 15th of each month to share what's bloomin' in their yards. As always, Thank you Carol for your inspiration!
The beautiful Phalaenopsis and I would rather be inside looking out at the heat than participating in the scorch fest. Mist me.
Esperanza (Hope Autumn comes soon) doesn't seem to be bothered a bit.
Lions Tail, Leo of course is the July/August sign...he's standing tall in the sun, myself, a Leo...not so sun worthy, sporting a rather farmerish tan prefers tubing.
This little tattered Phlox came from my neighbor Beverly's yard.
Lindheimer's Senna, transplanted from Zilker finally boomed!
There is something just magical and silly about Purple Cone Flower, I love it's floppy, fuzziness, it reminds me of something a kindergardener would draw.
Mexican Oregano going to town in the heat.
Had to show you this side of my drive with Crape Myrtle and Texas Sage, both were in bloom just before the rain last week but even without blooms I love the shiny green next to the soft gray.
Plumbago and Artichoke
This is Agastache-Apricot Sunrise. Tom over at Barton Springs Nursery talked me into giving it a try...he's just a delightful gentleman and gives top notch advice!
Yellow Yarrow with gray foliage
White Yarrow with green foliage
My crazy Desert Rose blooming on the deck. Well, that's about it for this month. Thank you for checking in on Bloom Day. Stay hydrated and take it easy!Happy Gardening
13 comments:
beautiful! i wish my esperanzas would bloom! the plant is doing great, super green and happy...but nary a bud on either the yellow bells or orange. i need to talk to them more maybe..;)
your lovelies do not look starved for attention however..beautiful as always! :)
Great photos - I saw the Purple Cone Flowers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last month but didn't know what they were called.
Hi there, from a much cooler Scottish garden! It's always fascinating to see what's dying (sorry flowering) in gardens around the world ;-) Thanks for sharing your garden with us!
Ah... I do so few house plants that I forgot to include my blooming Phalaenopsis. I love your collection of plants... you've just reminded me that I have a cone flower for this year too. I hope it survived the winter. Will need to go and take a look :-o
If you want to see what's growing in my part of Scotland at the moment my post is up now too if you would like to visit. I've some videos for this month :-D
What a beautiful orchid. It looks to me like you have a lot blooming! I feel your pain regarding the heat -- we had '90's and high humidity here in NC last week. It's hard to get anything done in those conditions!
You have a wonderful site.
I love what you said about the coneflowers. I always felt that way but didn't know how to describe it. You got it right on the nose.
Is the Wordless Wednesday original to you? Beautiful toad.
No, the Wordless Wednesday is not my creation...but I love it:)
You have every right to bitch about the Austin weather, especially given the tough summer you all had last year. When I lived there I was about played out by August and ready to move to Canada. I think it's gotten worse since then. But your plants are looking good. Yes, coneflowers look like the flowers I used to draw as a kid!
Looks good. Our crepe myrtles suffered from the April freeze, but they're coming back reasonably well. I love coneflowers, too. Great pics!
So much to see in your garden. I wouldn't be able to stay in there with the lovely orchid, I'd have to get out there.
My Esperanzas have buds, in the 'Texas plants' garden. I'm trying to hurry the Pride of Barbados, too. Coneflowers on the other hand are ready to be cut back for rebloom.
Funny post, Cheryl. I feel the same way about the heat and always say I should live in Norway or someplace like that. (But I wouldn't say it in the winter.) Stay cool. Only three and a half months of summer to go.
You sure do have lots of blooms even in your heat! I would just melt... cannot understand how I grew up in the south! Here in Massachusetts we are up to our knees in rain... with more to come... chilly too. Love your chickens and all your flower photos... your orchid is lovely.
We've been lucky so far this year in No Cal but I so sympathize with your heat travails; I always feel like some nocturnal rodent or lizard in summer, scurrying from cool dark place to cool dark place.
Add my kudos to the others for your echinacea description! And I was interested to know that the plant I know as lion's ear is lion's tale in Texas. Probably neither name comes from a biologist.
Here's a Chinese tea that helps with heat: honeysuckle flowers (plain old Hall's honeysuckle is also the medicinal honeysuckle of choice) and chrysanthemum flowers (C. morifolium or morifolii, depending who you're reading). Makes a good iced tea.
In Oregon the most undesirable 3 months are November, December and January, when we freeze and drowned!
Thanks for the Texas weather report. What are Texas degrees in November, December and January?
I blended some raw sunflowers from the bulk section of the grocery store and fed them to one plot were my eggplant is growing and now at least 20 sunflowers are growing. Have you heard of such a thing?
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